1. Field of Invention
The invention pertains to the class of devices designed to demonstrate the fingering of musical chords on fretted string instruments.
2. Description of Prior Art
Various devices have been disclosed in patents and elsewhere for teaching musical chords to students of fretted string instruments and for reminding experienced musicians of the thousands of different chords available. None of these devices, however, is in popular use. In spite of this prior lack of success, the premise behind the present invention is that a simple, easy-to-carry, easy-to-use, direct-reading chord display device properly priced and distributed will fill a void in the marketplace.
Evidence of the general need for chord display media exists in the many different chord books already in print. These books will probably continue to be popular because they offer a repertoire of chords pre-selected by master musicians and they designate the particular fingers to play each chord.
The present device, however, avoids the bulk, the cumbersome turning of pages and the searching for a chord voicing that may not even be in the book. By comparision, the device is simple, yet offers a complete selection of chords for each of up to 24 or more distinct and most useful chord types in all 24 musical keys.
The following patents best describe the prior art relative to the present invention. All are United States patents.
______________________________________ 1,556,147 10/1925 Johnson et al. 2,001,191 7/1932 Golden 3,245,303 6/1962 Patt 3,668,967 6/1972 Malis ______________________________________
U.S. Pat. No. 1,556,147 introduces the idea of a perforated slide that moves in a slideway representing the fingerboard. The notes are lettered on the slideway in their relative positions as they may be played on the fingerboard. The perforations on each slide are arranged in the finger pattern that may be used to play a certain type of musical chord. When the slide is indexed to a particular note, that note and the other notes which constitute the chord as revealed by that particular slide may be viewed through the perforations. A multiple number of slides are needed for different types of chords and for different finger patterns within each chord type.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,001,191 retains the idea of a perforated slide but brings together more than one type of chord on a much larger slide. Although not claimed, the description states that only one moving part is required. This is a desirable feature but it tends to make the slide large and awkward or to limit the number of chord types that can be displayed in a practical device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,345,303 substitutes printed indicia for the perforations representing the different finger patterns described above. The simulated fingerboard in this instance is imprinted on a transparent overlay. The overlay is slidable relative to the finger patterns in order to display for each chord the strings and frets on which the fingers may be placed. For each chord type a different sheet of corresponding finger patterns is provided, making it necessary to manipulate a multiple number of sheets in order to display all the chords.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,967 retains the idea of a transparent overlay to represent the fingerboard and printed indicia to represent the finger patterns. The finger patterns are formed by two coacting slides that may be moved longitudinally within a transparent sleeve upon which the fingerboard pattern is inscribed. Chords may be displayed on both front and rear sides of the device. The different types of chords that can be displayed are limited by the number of ways the coacting slides may be indexed to each other.
In none of the above inventions is the advice reduced to one moving part with one essential guiding surface and, at the same time, enlarged enough to display as many as 24 or more different chord types simultaneously over the entire range of the fretted string instrument. An aim of the present invention is to provide a practical device that avoids these shortcomings.